Cambridge University Press 0521660556 - Kingship and Politics in the Reign of Edward VI Stephen Alford Frontmatter More information
KINGSHIP AND POLITICS IN THE REIGN OF EDWARD VI
This book offers a reappraisal of the kingship and politics of the reign of Edward VI, the third Tudor king of England who reigned from the age of nine in until his death in . The reign has often been interpreted as a period of political instability, mainly because of Edward’s age, but this account challenges the view that the king’s minority was a time of unstable political faction. It shows how Edward was shaped and educated from the start for adult kingship, and how Edwardian politics evolved to accommodate a maturing and able young king. The book also explores the political values of the menaroundthe king, and tries to reconstruct the relationships of family and associ- ation that bound together the governing elite in the king’s Council, his court, and in the universities. It also, importantly, assesses the impact of Edward’s reignonElizabethanpolitics, both concep- tually (the notion of what it was to be a monarch) and practically (the importance in Elizabeth’s reignof menwho had already shaped Edwardianpolitics).
STEPHEN ALFORD is Assistant Lecturer in History, University of Cambridge, and Fellow of King’s College. His previous publications include The Early Elizabethan Polity: William Cecil and the British Succession Crisis, – (Cambridge, ).
© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521660556 - Kingship and Politics in the Reign of Edward VI Stephen Alford Frontmatter More information
KINGSHIP AND POLITICS IN THE REIGN OF EDWARD VI
STEPHEN ALFORD
© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521660556 - Kingship and Politics in the Reign of Edward VI Stephen Alford Frontmatter More information
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C StephenAlford
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A catalogue record for this bookis available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Alford, Stephen, – Kingship and politics in the reign of Edward VI / Stephen Alford. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN . Edward VI, King of England, –. . Great Britain– Politics and government – –. . Monarchy – Great Britain – History – th century. . Great Britain– History – Edward VI, –. . Great Britain – Kings and rulers – Biography. I. Title. DA .A . –dc
ISBN hardback
© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521660556 - Kingship and Politics in the Reign of Edward VI Stephen Alford Frontmatter More information
In memory of my grandparents, Phoebe and Harry Corbett
© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521660556 - Kingship and Politics in the Reign of Edward VI Stephen Alford Frontmatter More information
Contents
List of illustrations page ix Acknowledgements xi Abbreviations and conventions xiii
Introduction Constructing the reign of Edward VI King and kingship The dynamics of power – Reforming the kingdom Anevolvingpolity – Beyond : the Edwardianlegacy
Bibliography Index
vii
© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521660556 - Kingship and Politics in the Reign of Edward VI Stephen Alford Frontmatter More information
Wo be unto thee (O thou realm and land) whose king is but a child, and whose princes are early at their banquets. But well is thee (O thou realm and land) whose king is come of noblesse, and whose princes eat in due season, for strength and not for lust. Ecclesiastes :–.
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© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521660556 - Kingship and Politics in the Reign of Edward VI Stephen Alford Frontmatter More information
Illustrations
The frontispiece to Thomas Cranmer’s Catechism (), from Cambridge University Library, shelf-mark Young . Reproduced by permissionof the Syndicsof Cambridge University Library. page The title-page of An Homelye to be read in the tyme of pestylence, and a moste presente remedye for thesame () by JohnHooper, from Durham University Library, shelf-mark EWBO. BH. Reproduced by permissionof Durham University Library. The families of Seymour, Stanhope, and Page. The contents page of the first editionof A tragoedie or Dialoge of the unjuste usurped primacie of the Bishop of Rome (), from Cambridge University Library, shelf-mark F... Reproduced by permissionof the Syndicsof Cambridge University Library. The representation of the imperial arms in A Copye of a Letter contayning certayne newes, and the Articles or requestes of the Devonshyre & Cornyshe rebelles (), from Corpus Christi College, Oxford, shelf-mark ..(). Reproduced by permission of the President and Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. JohnDay’s andWilliam Seres’ imperial colophonof , from Cambridge University Library, shelf-mark Sel... Reproduced by permissionof the Syndicsof Cambridge University Library. The families of Cecil, Cheke, and Cooke. The families of Herbert, Parr, Talbot, and Throckmorton. The families of Denny, Gates, Mildmay, and Walsingham.
ix
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x List of illustrations Richard Grafton’s idealized representation of Edward taking counsel, on the title-page of The union of the two noble and illustre famelies of Lancastre & Yorke (), from King’s College, Cambridge, shelf-mark A... Reproduced by permission of the Provost and Scholars of King’s College, Cambridge.
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Acknowledgements
Research canbe a solitary affair – but it rarely is, andI am deeply grateful to friends and colleagues who have supported and encouraged me in piecing together and writing Kingship and politics. JohnGuy has responded so patiently to energetic bursts of correspondence. He read a complete draft of the book at the busiest time of the academic year, and his comments, criticisms, and corrections were invaluable. John Cramsie, my trusty counsellor and great friend, lived with the curse of the unan- nounced e-mail attachment at a time when he had far more important things to do than to read drafts of chapters that barely made sense to their author. Tom Freeman is as encyclopaedic as he is generous, and I owe to him my account of the subtle but important changes in John Foxe’s presentation of John Dudley between and ,andmuch more besides. Lisa Richardsonvery kindlyallowed me to appropriate her fascinating exploration of the relationship between John Hayward’s The Life, and Raigne of King Edward the Sixt and Richard Grenewey’s The annales of Cornelius Tacitus. Elizabeth Evenden, whose work on the printer John Day is of critical significance to any historian working on the politics of the reigns of Edward and Elizabeth, helped me to pin down the rela- tionship between Day and Richard Grafton. Natalie Mears pointed me inthe directionof The copie of a pistel or letter sent to Gilbard Potter, and Alan Bryson, the author of an extremely important thesis on ‘“The speciall meninevery shere”: the Edwardianregime, –’ (University of St Andrews, ), kindly sent me references to, and transcripts of, some documents that informed his own research. I suspect that Dale Hoak may disagree with some of the claims of Kingship and politics,but from the (as yet) unpublished papers he kindly sent me I am fairly certain that we are intrigued by many of the same features of Edwardian and Elizabethanpolitical history. I am extremely grateful to William Davies of Cambridge University Press for his patience and encouragement in gently steering me in the direction of completion. Max has tolerated my xi
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xii Acknowledgements historical ramblings with patience and humour, listened without choice to strange thoughts on the reign of Edward, and allowed a cast of histor- ical characters to invade our marriage (Stephen Gardiner was her least favourite). Albert, Flash, and Zorro naturally did what cats do best: they tried to convince me of the folly of taking life so seriously and encouraged me to find more productive and exciting uses for piles of paper. They nearly succeeded. This book beganlife as a Postdoctoral Fellowship project fundedby the British Academy, hosted by the Cambridge Faculty of History, and com- plemented by a research fellowship at Fitzwilliam College. I am deeply grateful to the Academy, to its Assistant Secretary Ken Emond, and to the Master and Fellows of Fitzwilliam – Rosemary Horrox in particular, whose support has, and always will be, appreciated. King’s elected me to anEhrmanFellowship in , and as a college community it has provided me with everything a historian could wish for: friendship, con- versation, and the time and freedom to write a book on Tudor kingship yards away from one of the finest architectural legacies of the dynasty. Peter Jones and Rosalind Moad of King’s College deserve very special thanks for helping me to navigate the College Library and Archive. The staff of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Rooms of Cambridge University Library have been, as ever, extremely supportive. A number of librarians across the country – Nicholas Bennett (Cathedral Librarian at Lincoln), Gill Cannell (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge), Christina Mackwell (Lambeth Palace Library), Sarah Newton(Corpus Christi College, Oxford), and Elizabeth Rainey (Durham University Library) – checked references, traced editions, and answered frantic e-mails, and I am very grateful to them. Crowncopyright documentsinthe Public Record Office are quoted by permissionof the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, manuscripts in the British Library by permission of the Trustees, and those in Cambridge University Library by permission of the Syndics. Documents in the College Archives of King’s College, Cambridge are quoted by permission of the Provost and Scholars, and papers inthe Parker Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge by permissionof the Master andFellows. I am grateful to the Marquess of Salisbury for allowing me to quote from the Cecil Papers at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire. Quotations from the Portland Papers and the Seymour Papers are included by permission of the Marquess of Bath, Longleat House, Warminster, Wiltshire, Great Britain. The quotations from ‘Anordre for redresse of the state of the Realme’ ( c. ) are repro- duced by permissionof the HuntingtonLibrary,SanMarino, California.
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Abbreviations and conventions
APC Acts of the Privy Council of England, ed. J.R. Dasent: vols. forEdwardVI’sreign(–, –, –), published between and (HMSO; London) CPR Calendar of the Patent Rolls preserved in the Public Record Office: Edward VI,in vols. (–, –, –, –, ,andIndex), published between and (HMSO; London) fo(s). folio(s) Knighton C.S. Knighton, ed., Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, of the reign of Edward VI – (HMSO; London, ) [cited by entry number] MS manuscript sig(s). signature(s) SP Public Record Office, Kew, London, State Papers STC A short-title catalogue of books printed in England, Scotland, & Ireland and of English books printed abroad –,ed. W.A. Jackson, F.S. Ferguson, and Katharine F. Pantzer, vols. (Bibliographical Society; London, –)
All quotations are in original spelling, but I have transcribed the thorn as ‘th’, silently extended contractions, and modernized the Tudor habit of using ‘u’ for ‘v’, ‘v’ for ‘u’, and ‘i’ for ‘j’. Scriptural quotations are from The Byble, that is to say all the holy Scripture, edited by Edmund Becke from ‘Thomas Matthew’s Bible’ (the transla- tions of William Tyndale and John Rogers), published by John Day and William Seres inLondonin (STC ). Ingivingdates, the Old Style has beenretained,but the year is assumed to have begunon January.
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